Bring out your dead!
I've always been fascinated with Astral's haunted house platformer from all the way back in
1990. It's full of charm with a comical edge and no haunting would be the same without lots of frightful creatures! We have everything from witches, zombies, werewolves, vampires, ghosts and even the odd weird statue that sticks out its tongue at you.
Each level has a particular task which is described to us during a mini-intro at the start. The objective is to hunt down and collect all the skulls and lay their souls to rest. However, this is one tricky platformer through, it's a maze of creepy screens that often contain infuriating traps to catch you out. This is no arcade-style platformer, more of a
Fire And Brimstone so keep your composure and wear your patient head, Worzel. And by that, I mean it starts easy but ends up 'challenging'!
I have always adored a 'horror' theme since playing
Chiller, so let's check out the first scary screenshot...
The artwork is beautifully creepy and I love the attention to detail - look at those eyes!!
Enter the haunted house!
The first level introduces us nicely to the game's freaky, yet comical personality with some puzzle-solving along with a variety of classic baddies: zombies, headless ghosts and a Morticia Addams lookalike. Initially, the puzzles are quite easy and shouldn't tax the grey matter too much: move a table to reach an item, find keys to unlock doors, and wear cute booties to creep past something scary. Things hot up on the next level with tougher monsters and trickier-level designs.
Level passes Wolfman, Hammer, Lugosi, Nosferatu & Garlic.
Every character is different and, I must admit to taking a liking to the wolfmen - but I hate the old hunchbacked witches who will drop rocks with surprising accuracy! Every level has a password so there is never a need to restart from the beginning each time which is an excellent idea and one I wish more games would have supported (I'm talking to you
Navy Seals!). Hint: try and remember to search for hidden rooms or secret objects that may need a different type of key.
This game is tough and is no pushover so expect lots of comical deaths. Like this one here...
Oh no, a skeleton with a bow!!! Gets me every time...
Aesthetics
The visual style is perfectly apt for the 1950s cinematic theme with smooth scrolling, spooky artwork and freaky characters. Everything you see is superbly animated - just wait until you die and see yourself shudder before violently suffering a Scanners-like headache. No matter the actual cause of death! I must say that I am impressed with the palette, each level is its own mini-movie and looks tremendous. The horror aspect is typically cheesy and I love it.
The audio is nothing short of incredible with a chippy rendition of Montagues and Capulets which couldn't have been a more perfect choice (I'm sure I'll be humming that all day long). The sound effects are high-quality samples with the wolf howls being my favourite. However, I'm disappointed there is nothing for my head-exploding deaths? That's weird!
Sound and vision are almost perfect in every respect! So let's look at an evil witch with her pet wolf...
I hate it when the old witch drops objects on my head!
The CryptO'pinion?
This is one of those games that will eat away your spare hours as it requires practice and a lot of patience. This game can be so cruel at times. In fact, it's often infuriating on the later levels, just try Family Chapel if you don't believe me. Oh, and Horror Zombies From The [Atari]Crypt is the perfect title for such a cheesy platformer. See what I did there?
Okay, I wish it was a little easier on many screens but I'll never be bored of killing wolfmen and zombies. Although I admit to running away like a scared child from those piercing glares a vampire can give! This is a fun platformer with lots of puzzles, action and a cruel design that's always going to win. Like with Fire & Brimstone, it's tough but it's superb!!
The HDD download can be found on D-Bug
